Medical News Today reports that according to new research published in the journal Drugs and Aging, a growing evidence proves that drugs used to treat depression and Alzheimer's disease can also aid patients recover from stroke. As the fifth major cause of most deaths in US, stroke is also known as the leading cause of disability.
Stroke develops when a blood vessel that has oxygen and other nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or ruptures. Brain cells die in the part of the brain that is cut off from the blood and oxygen supply.
Studies conducted by the American Stroke Association (ASA) shows that stroke affecting the right part of the brain will affect the left part of the body. It can lead to temporary to permanent paralysis on the left side, eyesight problems, memory deterioration and other behavioral problems. While a stroke that primarily occurs in the left side of the brain can cause paralysis on the right side of the human body, speech problems, memory loss and a change to a slow and cautious behavioral style.
Limited rehabilitation leads to search for drug
Speech and physical rehabilitation have been some of the major aims of stroke therapies programs. 1 out of 3 stroke patients suffer depression, isolating their ability to engage themselves in such programs, meanwhile, more than 50% of those who survived stroke are left with some neurological damage.
The limitations of rehabilitation efforts have set off an interest in finding other solutions to improve the neurological recovery, and scientists have reviewed several therapies, such as antidepressants, which is found to enhance a person's motor ability to be restored and Alzheimer's disease drugs to boost recovery from aphasia, which also includes problems in speaking, writing and understanding a spoken or written language.
Meanwhile, there are other contradicting findings from these studies and other drugs that are given to recovering stroke patients, and, they are yet to be clearly proven to be beneficial to patients recovering from these illness.
According to various evidences, the kind of antidepressants better known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRIs), such as Prozac, Paxil and Celexa, may improve neurological activity beyond its effect on human mood. Another type of antidepressant, norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (NRI) has also shown benefit.
